Broken Familes, Missing Fathers
by Frostfoot-Dreamleaf
Summary: Toph loved two men in her life, and could have loved that third one. From these emotions that she didn't fully understand came two daughters and a lifetime to secrecy and almost happiness. My hadcannon on Lin's and Su's fathers. Multiple parings.


**Soooo**

**I think everyone's always wondered who Lin's father is since we first met her. I'm a hardcore Tokka fan, so I was like SOKKA HAS TO BE THE FATHER. Until the dropped that bomb on us that LIn was in love with Tenzin which would be her cousin which would be majorly creepy. Darn.**

**Then BRYKE GAVE US ANOTHER ONE! Yes! It's like a fanfiction! A second daughter! And then Toph's granddaughter is an Airbender and I also ship Taang, so I was like 'what this is so perfect I need to put it into words omg'. **

**This is my explanation and head cannon (or deepest desire, what have you) on who Lin and Su's father's were and how it so came to be :) **

* * *

Toph hadn't planned on meeting Satoru again; he was nice to meet back when she was younger on her travels, but once Toph left a place, she didn't look back. He'd always been a little too obsessed over her anyway, and that creeper her out (or so she told Katara).

Emotion was a funny thing. Her parents loved her, she thought, in a weird sort of way. The G'aang loved her in a better sort of way. And she herself wasn't sure what the love that Katara and Aang had really was. She'd always been expected to go into an arraigned marriage, to a wealthy man, and be the house-wife her mother was. It wasn't love, it was responsibility. She grew to learn at a very young age that 'love' was just a word that disillusioned people used, and more so, 'true love' was just in books.

Truth be told, she did think she loved when she was young. Suki noticed right away; the blushing, the defensiveness...it all added it up perfectly clear to her.

"I don't know what's happening," Toph cried in frustration, "My heart feels heavy, but light. I have this clenching, I just think about him. What is this?" She clutched at her chest.

"I think it's called love."

Toph was aghast. Suki didn't ask who it was because Suki already knew. And because of who it was, neither told a soul. Everyone thought it was The Duke, and maybe she let them think that, because a lie was better than reality.

She loved again, but this time she even hid that from Suki. No one could know this either.

And because it was so unfair that she felt this way for the first time and second about a guy she couldn't have, she became a little bitter and a little unrelenting when guys approached her in the future. In the years it took to build her academy, and go off on little adventures just like the good old days, Toph was told by many that she blossomed.

Ew, she had thought, who wanted to be compared to a flower?

So really, she told people, if she had so 'blossomed' she had actually evolved. Or metamorphosed. Or heck, she was swapped with a prettier person, whatever floated their boats. But the next person who compared her to a flower would get their face punched in, so people stopped telling her she looked different in that way. People stopped altogether. Katara told her that the looks she got was worse.

She knew it had to happen eventually; from the way people talked about her own mother she had been 'attractive', apparently. And if Toph was her daughter, it wouldn't have been fair to receive nothing from her department, so it was bound to happen. She grew a bit, she let her hair grow out and hang freely, and she developed breasts. All quite interesting to her, mainly because she knew her body so well by hand and in a matter of years it pulled the rug from under her feet and she now had to re-learn a different body.

Men courted her, and she accepted few. She wasn't looking for family, she'd had enough of that. The idea of children made her gag, and the idea of constantly entertaining a husband made her even more ill. No siree, as Toph watched all her friends pair off and have little brats, she had to be thankful of the position she was in.

And it wasn't like she was a hermit or anything anymore. She got around. People bought her cactus juice often, mainly men that thought that they could sneak up and grope her a bit without her noticing (Idiots). For a lucky few on a particularly good day, Toph let their fantasies run wild. She'd kissed and done more, and single nights of careful calculation were hardly scandalous in her books. Katara always sighed her big long annoying sigh, but it was clear that Toph was going to do whatever she wanted with whoever she wanted, and clearly it was uncontrollable. Katara always told Toph she was going to run into trouble one day, but Toph never believed her.

Toph was cautious. She never got too drunk to know when it would be dangerous for herself, or when she might get an unexpected gift later from that night. She knew the type of men that she allowed from a single touch; attractive sounding guys that would be reverend with her, but not too pathetic, but not too rough. They would be respectful of her wishes not to continue, and would just be glad she gave them this opportunity. She didn't go for the guys looking for control, nor the guys too pale to even ask her if she wanted a drink without stuttering.

So she really couldn't have been that surprised when Satoru fit that criteria, nearly fifteen years after their first and short meeting. He occasionally sent letters, Toph never sent one back. It was half she was blind, half she didn't want to give the effort to. It wasn't like he wrote emotional poetry either, it was usually formal and informative, since her father still was sour with her. She would never admit it to Katara, who read her those letters, but she with her fickle heart hung on those letters to hear how her father was. After all, he still was her father.

It was at a Republic City gala. Toph had agreed to be the Chief of Police because Aang asked her to, pure and simple. Her academy had expanded to different cities, and she agreed only if she could continue her work here. Aang was only too happy to agree.

She was nearly thirty-two, and people still whispered that she, for her age, had the looks. Like she cared; she knew that people would stare because Suki dressed her tonight. Expensive clothes (the fabric had that glamour feel, so of course it was going to be beautiful), the crowned jewels and jade on her neck, and a little bit of color across her face.

Toph was sitting talking to the bartender, because she hated dancing and all her friends had frolicked off to rub elbows and giggle. It was where she felt pretty comfortable. She knew he was approaching before he reached the stool behind her.

"Saturo." She greeted, for she hardly forgot a face. Especially not one that she thought about often, sometimes before other men came up to to her. He would be almost forty now, but he seemed to humor her and sat.

"Toph. You look-,"

"Sexy?" She offered almost craftily and she heard him cough hard in surprise.

"Well, you look well." He corrected, but she had done her job. Slowly that blush rose from his cheeks, and Toph fought back her own. He sounded nearly same as he did all those years ago.

"I thought you'd be out talking about your success." He was now an ambassador and lobbied for rights in factories. He told her in his last letter, a year or so ago, he was going to try and change the world.

"I thought you wouldn't be at the bar." He replied.

Toph turned around. "So we're both disappointed." She lied. There was a pause, and Toph tapped her fingers on the table. Ah, he wore no ring. Unmarried. What an interesting development. She asked.

"I was married. She unfortunately died a couple years ago." He admitted. Toph felt a bit cheated. He'd never once told her in his correspondence that he'd gotten married. She was hardly surprised, he was a handsome man who built an empire of a fresh start.

"I would have said sorry if you would have told me." Toph guilted him, and she heard him sigh.

"Toph," He gave a low groan, "Can I...buy you a drink?" The question answered her veiled accusation. Just like that, perhaps, she forgave him. His old wife, rest in peace, never really mattered anyway.

And just like that, Toph forgot all the rules she made for herself. She had two drinks, and she danced. She ate food and talked to people and actually liked it. She didn't think about the dog-elephant in the room that was always there, always following her, but instead thought very hard about what it would be like to have Satoru whisk her way. Except she couldn't, not tonight...there was a reason...she told herself she couldn't do anything tonight, no matter the person.

Two more drinks in, and a shot, and she didn't remember there was a reason anymore. And frankly, she didn't care.

It may have possibly been the best night of her life, with a man she truly could see herself loving, except for the damn cactus juice. When she awoke, something felt right, and nothing felt wrong. But things were very, very wrong.

That's how Lin, her first daughter, came about. When she found out, she panicked. Satoru never knew. He was called back to his company, and the letters came back again. Often, Katara would get out a sheet to reply to him, and Toph would almost tell him. Yet she already had Katara and Aang fussing over her and her large stomach, if that wasn't mortifying enough, so she could only imagine what she'd have to go through if Satoru knew. Besides, he soon got remarried and then it was just too late.

More than that, Toph thought of her own broken family. Her father had often been the one with the problems, while her mother's only vice was her submission to her father. Perhaps having a dad was just overrated, and Toph would manage just fine. When she told everyone, naturally, they were surprised. Aang was the only one who was immediately supportive.

"If anyone can raise a kid by themselves, it's you. Besides, Toph wouldn't have it any other way."

Toph would be forever grateful for those words, for it gave her courage.

And now she was added to that list of people who had kids. Katara and Aang had Bumi and Kya, and a year after Lin, they had a third named Tenzin. Jun had a kid. Smellerbee (who she thought was more surprising than herself to be mother) with Longshot had two kids. Mai and Ty Lee and Haru all had children. So it was really weird to her that Suki and Sokk did not have children, nor did Zuko. She both parties about it bluntly one day.

Sokka was crestfallen. "I guess I want kids, but you sort of need a girl to do that." He said, and the raw pain of Suki's sudden departure from his life was still visible to even the blind.

"Girls throw themselves at you, Snoozles." Toph scoffed, "You could have a whole legion of children by them."

"I don't want a legion," Sokka suddenly became quite cross, "I want a couple, or just even one, with someone I care about."

Toph suddenly felt horrible, unable to comfort him. She bit her lip hard.

"You'll find someone." Her voice was dry. She felt his gaze on her, and she left the room quickly.

Suki was just blasé about it all. She wasn't looking for kids.

Zuko was just hopeful. "I can't just marry anyone." He told Toph, "Mai wast he best choice that the concil liked. I haven't really liked anyone like her since. This is the future heir. They have to have the right mother."

Toph had an easier time talking to Zuko about this, seeing as she wasn't emotionally attached. She had only ever seen Zuko as an older brother.

And the years passed, yet no one could anticipate the occurrence when Lin was nearly four years old. Sokka's voice was forced, his throat burning as he spoke, and Toph only heard the remnants of crying.

"Zuko. She went with Zuko." He said, and his whole body sagged.

"Why am I the first to know?" Toph asked a little edgily, not understanding. Why didn't he go to his sister? Or Ty Lee, who had become a good friend in the years? Why Toph?

"I don't know. I just know I needed to tell you first." He said, and she could almost hear his lips turning down into a deep frown.

"Suki and Zuko..." Toph let out a low whistle.

"And she's pregnant." The disgust was audible in his voice, "I thought...you know, we were buds."

Toph held out a plate to him, "Wanna break it? It's a family heirloom...I think. It will make you feel better."

Sokka didn't take the plate, but she heard him kick a chair and swear a couple more times. She had to remind him that although her daughter was asleep, she had a tendency to pick up naughty words and repeat them to everyone. Children did that, apparently.

Katara called Sokka catty when he refused to go to the engagement banquet nor the wedding, and spun on Toph just as violently when she told Katara calmly she would be staying home with Sokka.

"They're our friends." Katara said fiercely.

"Katara, I just can't." Sokka said flatly, "Respect this."

It was never really real between the pair at Toph's house. Sokka stayed in her guest bedroom, and he helped her with chores. He played with Lin, and Toph sometimes snuck up. She realized that Sokka had never felt happier in his life. In his wierd way, he'd been like that goofy father of the group, and it didn't surprise Toph when he talked about if he had a family of his own one day. Toph's heart began to thrum again for the Wolf Warrior.

And perhaps, dare she say it, Toph fell in love for the second real time.

Sokka never expected an invitation, but he wasn't supposed to leave either. So when she turned to him one day, and kissed him on the cheek and said, "Lin and I can be your family," He felt as if nothing was real anymore. He already adored Lin, despite still not knowing her father (and he would never ask) and Toph had never been a 'little sister' to him. Even when he was dating Suki, at Toph's young age he had been attracted to her personality. Years later, he was defiantly attracted to her body.

"Let's keep it quiet," He offered, "Suki told me when she left that the constant pressure in the public broke her. I don't want that to happen to us." He said, pressing his forehead against Toph's.

"I already dealt with the public to hell and back after I had Lin and did not announce the father. I think we could manage," She began, but she felt his hands tighten, "But if it pleases you..." She said a little deftly.

"I love you. Don't think that it's because I don't. I do. I love you." Sokka insisted confidently, and Toph always melted at his words. She knew he looked longing at Lin, a child not his own that he still loved unconditionally, and that budged her. She knew his pain when Honora, Zuko and Suki's child was born, and he was big enough of a person to go and apologize and begin to forgive. That prompted Toph to make nice with her parents, and her mother cried when she held her granddaughter for the first time. That's when Toph realized that they, despite everything, were good for each other. They could grow together. They would grow together, but first Toph realized she had to give a little.

Her second child was not an accident, but it was planned. When she offered another, his real child and a sibling for Lin, Sokka picked her up and spun her around. Perhaps her memory of Lin's conception was hazy at best, despite knowing she had been utterly pleased, Su's night would remain with her forever, for both her and Sokka were free of Cactus Juice and fueled by passion, love, and excitement. Sokka knew Toph well enough to read that she too was happy for another child.

By this point, the G'aang knew and Katara was so pleased. "Now you really are my little sister," She squealed. Toph hugged her back. Her stomach was rubbed, and names of gods invoked to carry the little one safety to the world. Soon after Honor's first birthday, Toph's second child and Sokka's first daughter was born.

"Are you two going to get married?" Aang asked.

"Can I just focus on going home first?" Toph asked from the infirmary, exhausted and a bit annoyed at his question. He laughed and shrugged.

"Fair enough."

But marriage would happen, she assumed, it was bound to. Maybe when Su was a bit older, or after they had another (Sokka had said he wanted five kids, Toph compromised with him on one more for sure when Su was two and if she was still feeling up to it, they'd talk about a fourth, but five was out of the question.)

And then the unthinkable happened.

Sokka...died.

Su was only a couple months old, and there was some stupid rebel group, nothing no one had never dealt with before. And all it took was one lucky stupid shot for the best thing that had ever happened to Toph to be yanked away from her with shattering agony. So Toph did what she did best; fend for herself. She packed up without a word (just a sloppy note written by a six-year-old Lin) and moved.

No one saw Lin or Su or Toph for five years. Well, some did. She tracked down Yakone with Aang, donned that old uniform, but told him firmly that she needed to get back to her children, and that perhaps...soon she would come home.

She eventually returned; hearing about the chaos in the city and the unruliness of the Police Force. And Aang had begged her this time.

She made sure to sit down with her old friends, Zuko and Suki included.

"Su doesn't know Sokka is her father. I'm not going to tell her."

The reaction to hearing about this was worse than when she announced she wasn't telling Lin's father. Even Aang disagreed.

"I cannot tell Lin her father. It would not be fair," Toph explained.

"Can't you pass them both off as Sokka's?" Suki pleaded.

"Lin is too smart. She knows that Sokka, although loved her and would have been her father, is not hers. I don't think that she was old enough to put two and two together and realize that he had to be Su's. She will soon forget him anyway." She sighed.

"I don't think this is the way. Sokka would-," Suki began, but Toph rounded on her.

"Sokka is dead, and I don't need your opinion. If you really cared, you wouldn't have left him." Sokka may forgive and forget Suki, but Toph did not, "And his legacy was fulfilled in other ways. Besides, Su would never get a chance alone walking home from school if the public knew. They would eat her alive. Lin too. They would say nasty things about them, and I will not put my children at risk. If you are not willing to agree to my wishes, I will not return."

Toph was a mama bear, the group realized, something no one thought would happen. Slowly, unsurely, and regretfully, they agreed.

Aang began to stand in as the best Uncle-closest-to-father the girls had. It seemed their life was made of faux daddies and stand-ins for the real thing. Perhaps it was Toph's own fault at the separation and downfall of her two daughters, perhaps it was no one's. When she sent Su away, she thought it was best, and it was the second time (After not telling her daughter's their fathers) she made a horrendous mistake. True, when Su became was amazing, but she could not force sisters to love each other. She realized her family was broken.

But through it all, there were more reaons not to tell them their fathers, no matter how many times they asked. ONly once did Toph feel utterly fortunate that Lin received the whimsical romantic side of her father, but Su received the offstandish and more casual loves her mother had at first dabbled in. If it had been Su that had fallen into an irrevocable love with Tenzin, she would have had to say something, for they were cousins and that wouldn't be right. She always selfishly hoped that Tenzin and Lin would work out, but she knew that Lin's temper after Pemma came into Tenzin and whisked him away came from her side for sure. She didn't exactly agree with Lin destroying the temple, but she didn't exactly take Tenzin's side either.

Time moved on, and Lin never loved again. The apple didn't fall far from the tree, for Toph vowed after Sokka for no more children, for the idea of that sort of betrayal was just too dishonest to do to him. Su, after all her faults, became arguably more successful, and began a city made from Metal. When they revealed the statue, Toph couldn't have been happier. Occasionally, she visited when her daughter had a child, but every face seemed to look like Sokka, or so she assumed because Su would comment that it did not look Toph, herself, or her husband. It was a bittersweet memory. Lin never had children, so Toph never had to look at Satoru's face in those children, for for that matter, hear about it. He died not long after Lin's thirtieth birthday, and Lin didn't understand why her mother asked her (and not her sister) to travel with her to a man's funeral that she had never met and never heard talked about.

It was her mother's way of telling her, as she looked at his photograph of himself as a younger man, and was mistaken for one of his real children with his second wife by a mourner. Lin and his three children did bear a striking resemblance. Lin never asked for a confirmation, and Toph never gave one, but Lin knew. And she would keep quiet for as long as she lived. She realized the fragility of it all; if it came out now, it would look like they were looking for money or something. And it seemed that his wife never had a clue, even if she was older than the children and before the pair ever met, and there was just no reason to stir up unneeded drama.

Lin also had a very good guess who Su's father was, but they were not speaking, and she wasn't going to tell her anyway. Lin felt strangely superior to know both their fathers while she knew none.

Toph gradually became less and less around. She was a free-spirit once more, and soon told Su and Lin she was going to find enlightenment. She went into the old woods that were not yet contaminated with this new world, a place she and the G'Aang had traveled through as children. She became a master at mediation.

She felt it in her hug when Aang died, and Toph, finally allowing herself to admit to herself her true feeling for Aang, sobbed. You never quite forgot a first love.

When the portal between the worlds were opened, she spent days searching, calling out Sokka's name. She wanted to know if he forgave her, for never telling Su. If he knew that he had five grandchildren, and the artist looked just like him (Katara told her) and it hurt her and made her laugh to the point of tears. She wanted to joke about how he would spoil them all rotten, but mostly Opal because he had a soft spot for the three other girls in his life. She wanted to tell him how much she missed him. But in this forest, she could see. She was not blind. It was at first a bit overwhelming, the sights and sounds and all the color. She thrilled at the idea of seeing her lover's face for the first time, of kissing him and all.

It was not Sokka she found.

"You won't find him here." She spun, being able to see, and saw Aang for the first time was like a punch to the gut. He was about the age when she first had Lin, young and smiling.

"You don't look how I thought you would." She admitted, "Twinkle Toes." He frowned.

"I am only here for I am the Avatar. Sokka is not here." He said firmly, and Toph rubbed her arms.

"Maybe you're wrong," She murmured hoarsely, refusing to believe it.

"I'm sorry Toph."

He was so damn geninue that it killed her. She wanted to hit him.

"Is it so horrible that now I can see here, and that I just want to see his face once? Everyone's faces?" The true pain of her disability crashed down, "Aang...I don't even know what my daughters look like."

"Here." He moved forward, "A trick I learned." He pressed his fingers to her temples, and faces flashed across her eyes. Sokka, Katara, Suki, Zuko, Haru, Satoru, Lin, Su...so many faces that she feared she would forget them all. Then Aang pressed his memories to Toph and Sokka with Lin playing together. Sokka kissing her swollen stomach. Sokka holding Su. Sokka and her kissing. She hadn't cried in ages, and these memories collapsed her to her knees.

"Where will I see him?" She whispered faintly, covering her eyes, as if to hold in the images.

"In a place I am not so lucky to go to...on." He gave a weary smile, and chuckled, "Keep Katara company up there when the time finally comes. Tell her I love her if you see her." He said.

"Can she not visit you here?" Toph asked, and Aang sadly shook his head.

"Not a day goes by I don't wish she were here." He admitted sullenly.

"Will I be able to see you here again?" She questioned.

"I find it unlikely." He replied, drawing himself in, and she could see the sorrow, "Take care Toph."

And then, she woke up, back in her forest room. And Aang, and her sight, was gone. She cried for Sokka and she cried for Aang.

It was not long after she searched that she heard the news; her only granddaughter Opal was an airbender. She went looking for Aang this time, but did not find him. So she spoke to the wind.

"I think I've love three people, Aang. Well, two. Two really. Began to love one. Is it possible to love two at once? I loved Sokka more than you can ever imagine, but here it is, you never forget the one you love first. And now...my granddaughter is an airbender, just like she would have been if I had a daughter that was yours. Perhaps, everything works out in the end, huh Twinkle Toes?"

The wind whispered through the trees, and she laughed.

"I hear ya, I hear ya." She rolled her eyes, "There was only ever Katara. But still, it's a nice thought."

And Toph left the photograph of Opal sitting at the edge of the tree for Aang to find. What use would it be to her in the world where she could not see anyway?

She found Iroh in the forest next, and shared tea with him. He looked like she imagined, for once. Usually people did not so perfectly fit her mold.

"You have grown old."

"Gee, thanks." She rolled her eyes, sipping on the cup, "How are you here, if you died?"

"Death is not what you think. I ascended after I had done all I could do. You could do the same, Master Bei Fong, and see for eternity."

Toph pondered it. She could see, or she could wait out and meet Sokka. Perhaps the other life would be so kind to allow her sight.

Regardless, she finished her tea.

"Someone's waiting for me." She whispered with a hard smile, "The only spirit here to tether me is unrequited, but I wouldn't want it any other way." She admitted, for deep down, she knew Aang was meant to be with Katara.

"A wise choice. I am disappointed to not see you here anymore, but I hope that he is waiting for you." Iroh gave a small frown, but nodded all the same. Toph was sure that he did not think she would agree from the start, but had hoped so.

In the real world, Toph packed up her bag. She felt her time draining, but she would fix things. She was no longer afraid. If her children wished to know their fathers, she would tell them. It was the least she could do.

* * *

**I couldn't write Toph dying. That would be wayyyyyyy too depressing.**

**Just for the record, I'm a hardcore Zutara shipper. I don't think that she's meant to be with Aang, but for this story, I suppose I can accept it. I don't really like Suki and Zuko (but I dislike Mai more) and that's how Toph could get Sokka! I support Toph (clearly) with all three: Satoru, Sokka, and Aang :) Just some notes on my prefrence. This is like my ultimate headcannon. **

**And in the real story, Sokka wouldn't have died when he did. That was my continually mistake, but everything else should fit up with the knowledge we have gained for Legend of Korra.**

**Hope you enjoyed. Read and review! **


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